Before you can use a VSFlexString control in your application, you must add the VSSTR8.OCX file to your project. In VB, right-click the toolbox and select the VSFlexString Control from the list. In VC++, right-click on the dialog box and select the VSFlexString Control from the list, or use the #import statement to import the VSSTR8.OCX file into the project.
To distribute applications you create with the VSFlexString control, you must install and register it on the user's computer. The Setup Wizard provided with Visual Basic provides tools to help you do that. Please refer to the Visual Basic manual for details.
The VSFlexString control allows you to incorporate regular-expression text matching into your applications. This allows you to parse complex text easily, or to offer regular expression search-and-replace features such as those found in professional packages like Microsoft Word, Visual C++, and Visual Basic.
VSFlexString looks for text patterns on its Text property, and lets you inspect and change the matches it finds. The text patterns are specified through the Pattern property, using a regular expression syntax similar to the ones used in Unix systems.